Abstract
Abstract Mechanical dryer usually using heat from combustion and air is blown through heater to the product dried. This study was conducted used a vertical dryer. The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of air temperature to drying rate and drying efficiency. The variation of the temperature used were 50°C, 55°C, and 60°C with a tolerance of ± 1 °C with a constant mass of 20kg. The result of this study showed that the higher the dryer air temperature used, the faster the drying rate and drying time. It was found that the fastest drying rate for 60°C was 0.00033804 kg/s with drying time 70 minutes. While for temperature of 50°C found the longest drying rate of to reach a moisture content of 13.8% of 0.00022571 kg/s with constant air velocity of 5 m/s. The highest dried efficiency occurs at a temperature 60°C.